At Int’l Widows Day: Fomunyoh Foundation empowers, succours widows.

The empowerment and donation exercise took place Friday June 23 at TFF’s Youth Empowerment Centre in Yaounde. The activities were carried out to mark this year’s International Widows Day.

This year’s International Widows Day was commemorated under the theme: “Innovation and Technology for gender equality”. 

To mark the day, TFF brought together widows from around the nation’s capital, Yaounde.

The widows were trained on their rights and the benefits they can enjoy by making use of technology. The widows also received food items from TFF.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of TFF, Prof Elizabeth Tamajong, said innovation and technology can provide widows with opportunities to improve their livelihoods. She called for technology to be made available to widows, irrespective of their social status.

“It is imperative for policy makers to make policies that impact widows who do not have power to compete in an economic system that is virtual and technologically competitive,” Prof Tamanjong suggested.

Internet providers, she said, should start working towards ensuring that their services reach widows in the rural areas.

Guest speaker at the workshop, Ndi Noella, a humanitarian activist, schooled the widows on trauma healing. She enlightened the widows about inheritance and property ownership. 

Ndi charged the widows to be creative and innovative in order to live better lives and improve on the wellbeing of those dependent on them. The widows were further educated on the negative effects of harmful traditional practices that violate widows’ rights.  

The resource person said widows should not be subjected to dehumanising treatment. She cited traditions whereby widows sometimes are forced to sleep with the corpses of their husbands or marry their deceased husband’s relatives.

Widows on liquid soap production 

The widows were also trained on how to produce liquid soap. Such skills, officials said, could help them become self-employed, self-reliant and generate revenue for themselves and their kids. They were further urged to acquire skills in several disciplines that could benefit their families. 

Under the patronage of Dr Christopher Fomunyoh, Founder of The Fomunyoh Foundation, donations in cash and kind were handed to the widows. 

Widows express gratitude to TFF

The widows expressed gratitude to TFF for the gifts received and the knowledge gained. 

One of the widows told The Guardian Post that “widows must strive to become part of the decision-making process in society”. 

Our respondent said being a widow is challenging but urged her peers to remain resilient.